


Under the Milky Way Tonight

by epersonae



Series: The Director [7]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Insomnia, Pot-smoking, Spoilers, Taagnus reference
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-19
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-10-20 19:55:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10669680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epersonae/pseuds/epersonae
Summary: An achy and insomniac Lucretia encounters a smoking elf.





	Under the Milky Way Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Wish I knew what you were looking for  
> Might have known what you would find
> 
> And it's something quite peculiar  
> Something shimmering and white  
> Leads you here despite your destination  
> Under the Milky Way tonight
> 
> Inspired by the song by The Church, and some of y'all who've written Taako & Magnus getting high together. Thanks?
> 
> Set in an undetermined (but after Crystal Kingdom) Lunar Interlude.

Awake again in the middle of the night. All her life Lucretia's insomnia had waxed and waned; lately it had been growing worse again. Probably because everything was coming to a head.

But knowing why did nothing to get Lucretia to sleep. And now insomnia came with little aches and pains: pins and needles in her hands, a dull throb in one knee, tension radiating from her jaw down into her neck. After adjusting pillows and changing sides for the fiftieth time, she threw her blankets aside and pulled on a robe.

The lights lining the quad were dimmed, highlighting the spectacular sight of the stars above the the artificial moon, beyond the planet's atmosphere. Lucretia strolled around the permimeter, slowly working the stiffness out of her knee. Whatever else she'd done, and whyever else she'd done it, this was an accomplishment worth remembering. Although that too had its own undertones of grief, remembering how Lucas and Maureen had been part of that, and now were gone.

Then she spotted wisps of smoke rising from the center of the lawn. She squinted into the dark, where a figure in aggressively mismatched robes and scarves sat cross-legged on the grass, smoking from a long pipe.

She picked her way across to Taako, who looked up at her with a wry smile. Not quite the familiar friend of old, but friendly enough.

"Director."

"Taako."

"Doing the rounds?"

"I suppose."

"Have a sit-down?"

She gingerly lowered herself to sit beside him, barely hiding a wince.

"Easy there."

"Just a bad knee."

"Age is a bitch, I guess."

She didn't know what to say to that, so she just looked up at the stars.

"Want a little something to ease the aches? I snagged some of Merle's stash." He waggled the pipe at her.

"You know what? I think I will. It's been about twice forever." She pushed away the memory of sitting around a campfire in a forest, singing dumb songs.

She takes the pipe from his outstretched hand. He lit it for her with a tiny flame on his fingertips. She inhaled -- too deep, it had been a long time and she had always been a lightweight -- and coughed. She looked around the campus, but no-one was there to see.

"How about we try that again more carefully, my dude? With some finesse, a little respectability?" He waved the smoldering pipe around. "I mean, you are a Director, smoke your weed like a goddamn professional."

She covered a sly smile with her hand.

"All right homie," she said, "let's do this."

"Girl." And he waved the pipe in front of her again. "You don't even need it. You've already got the giggles." Nonetheless, he held it out to her, and she tried again more carefully. What had Merle said to her, a lifetime ago, about sipping, and extra air, and all that?

She managed to let the smoke out smoothly this time. She lay on the grass on her back, staring at the vast sweep of the galactic arm above them.

She decided to make an attempt at conversation.

"How are you getting along?"

Taako shrugged.

"With the boner squad? I mean, we do okay. We get the job done, right?"

"Mm-hmm." Dozens of questions swarm her mind, all boiling down to wondering if they are feeling as they once did. Do they trust each other? Does he love Magnus? And can she trust him? Of course she can't ask: she idly wonders if asking Taako about Magnus and love will trigger voidfish static. For some reason, that strikes her as silly, and she starts giggling.

"Oh ho look at this very serious Madame Director. You're lucky cha'boy Mango isn't here or he'd prob'ly try to tickle you like Johann or some shit."

She very much would have liked Magnus to be there to tickle her.... She sighed.

"I guess I can't be serious all the time."

"You seem to do it pretty well, my dude."

They were silent for a long while after that, Lucretia still on her back, Taako continuing to puff on his pipe.

"I mean, they're goofs, don't get me wrong, but Magnus and Merle are the first folks I've had around who had ol' Taako's back in a bad sitch. Means a lot. I guess I should thank you for that."

She reached out and patted his knee.

"No, I should thank you. Finding the relics, destroying them, we wouldn't be where we are without you three."

"Damn skippy."

She laughs again. She can't tell him why, but for the moment she's content to be in his company, a little high, staring at the stars.

**Author's Note:**

> I thought I'd run down a bit on ideas for Lucretia, but then I started listening to a bunch of New Wave/New Romantics from my early teens.
> 
> Also, insomnia with arthritis is a bitch, kids.


End file.
